


Falling Into Place, Piece by Piece

by bakagou



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Coming Out, Dick Grayson is Batman, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Trans Male Character, alfred also makes an appearance, dick and dami are both trans but dami doesn't know he's trans yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 02:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15787065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakagou/pseuds/bakagou
Summary: Just as he’s about to drift back to sleep again, the door swings open and a voice calls out, “Grayson, Pennyworth has sent me to get you up for breakfast as you’re seemingly incapable of doing so by yourself."Dick smirks then, sitting up in bed to look at the kid. Green eyes meet his gaze for a moment before Faizah scowls and marches across the room to open the curtains.She turns back to Dick then, same scowl unchanged on her face.“Up. Now, Grayson.”In which Dick is Batman and Damian's his Robin but neither of them know that Damian'sDamianyet.





	Falling Into Place, Piece by Piece

**Author's Note:**

> I did some editing for this so like, give me credit where credit is due. Also, and more importantly, as Damian doesn't know he's a guy yet, he's referred to using his soon-to-be-deadname and she/her pronouns, so if that could make anyone uncomfortable then just take this as a heads up.

Dick groans as his fourth alarm blares, the tinny sound bouncing off the plain white walls of his bedroom. He leans over the side of his bed to pick his phone up off the floor (it fell from his nightstand after the third alarm) and switches it off. 

He takes a moment to brace himself for the day ahead, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the early morning traffic just beyond the penthouse walls. He’s got meetings to go to and paperwork to get through and Dick thinks that that interview he’s been dreading is today. And then when he’s gotten through all that he has to suit up and try to fill shoes that he’ll never be able to (and never should have had to, never wanted to). 

Just as he’s about to drift back to sleep again, the door swings open and a voice calls out, “Grayson, Pennyworth has sent me to get you up for breakfast as you’re seemingly incapable of doing so by yourself.”

Dick smirks then, sitting up in bed to look at the kid. Green eyes meet his gaze for a moment before Faizah scowls and marches across the room to open the curtains. 

She turns back to Dick then, same scowl unchanged on her face. 

“Up.  _ Now _ , Grayson.”

Dick chuckles and swings his legs out of bed. Faizah perches at the edge of the bed, legs dangling above the ground. Dick tilts his head to the side, a silent question that Faizah chooses to ignore. 

In the three weeks that the two of them have been working together, the two weeks that Dick’s been trying to take care of the kid, she’s done her damndest to keep to herself, shut Dick out and stew in her grief for her father by herself. It makes Dick worry about what’s to come.

So this, Faizah actually choosing to be in Dick’s presence outside of their time as Batman and Robin, is surprising to say the least.

Dick likes to think he’s good with kids, but one raised by the League of Assassins is about as familiar to Dick as a good night’s sleep.

Faizah looks up at Dick and meets his eyes for a second before turning away to look out the window, dark curls following. 

“Pennyworth mentioned that you have a… habit of falling back into bed even after getting up.”

Dick stifles a laugh, knowing it would probably result in him being tackled to the ground. 

Instead, he moves into the bathroom and takes a look at his reflection. A sense of pride blooms in his chest at the sight of stubble, even after all these years. Behind him, he can hear Faizah shuffling around, probably finding something to keep her busy. He shaves quickly before taking his testosterone from the sink drawer.

“Grayson, what is  _ that?”  _

Dick looks up to see a red faced Faizah with a hand clamped over her mouth. She’s standing by the his pillows, quilt in hand and Dick’s really wondering what kind of kid willingly makes their bed, let alone someone else’s. 

“Oh this? it’s testosterone”, Dick answers, twirling the needle in his hand as he goes back to finding a spot to inject it. 

Just before he does, Dick takes another glance at Faizah. This time, Faizah’s brows are furrowed, nose scrunched with an almost cute pout on her face. 

It’s an expression Dick’s never seen on her face before, a look of confusion.

“You know if you don’t understand something, you can just ask, right?”

Faizah stiffens, back straightening out.

“Of course I knew that”, Faizah snaps, but her body stays taught. 

Dicks smirks but wisely doesn’t comment. But Faizah catches the smirk and scowls in return, marching over to slam the bathroom door in Dick’s face and yell “Just hurry up already!” 

Dick dutifully finishes up in the bathroom and when he comes back out into his bedroom, Faizah’s sitting in the middle of the freshly made bed, legs crossed and that same confused expression on her face. 

Dick’s pulling a shirt out of his wardrobe when Faizah finally cracks.

“Why do you need to do such a thing?”

“Because I’m trans, Faizah. My body doesn’t make that much testosterone naturally.”

A pause.

And then, “What is,  _ ‘trans’ _ ?”

_ Ah. _

Dick turns to face Faizah, who looks as young as Dick’s ever seen her.

“I’m trans, short for transgender. It means that the gender I was assigned at birth doesn’t match up with my actual gender”, Dick explains.

Faizah’s nose scrunches again. “So when you were born, people… people thought you were a, a-” 

“When I was born people though I was a girl, yes”, Dick supplies, the gears in his head beginning to turn. 

“And when did you realize that they were wrong, that you were a boy?” Faizah asks, meeting Dick’s eyes for the first time since this conversation started.

Dick pauses for a moment. 

“Not to sound like a walking cliché but I think a part of me always knew, it wasn’t anything I could really identify and name but I just had this feeling, y’know. And then one day when I was about six I guess it all fit into place and went up to my parents and told them that I was a boy.

“They took it surprisingly well too, let me throw out all my dresses and skirts, got me a new costume for the shows, and let me pick out my own name without any bother. No one really questioned it, they just accepted it. I think that was one of my favourite things about the circus”, Dick says.

Faizah nods, staring at the wall across for them but not quite seeing it.

“And how do you know? How do you know that the doctors and everyone else was wrong?” Faizah asks, voice just above a whisper and head staring down that their lap. 

Dick’s heart clenches as he slides onto the bed beside Faizah, but still gives them a wide berth of space.

“It’s different for everyone kiddo, for me it was just the small things building up, how I hated it when someone called me a pretty girl or how exposed I felt wearing a skirt or dress, or how’ve I sometimes wished it was possible for me to be a boy”, Dick pauses and, places a gentle hand in Faizah’s shoulder.

Dick feels his heart pound painfully against his rib cage when Faizah instinctively tenses under the touch, before relaxing, almost leaning into it.

“Some people like to think that gender’s simple, that it’s this sacred thing that’s written in stone. But it’s, it’s a lot more complicated than that”, Dick continues. He taps Faizah’s chin and brings their gaze to meet his.

“But what you need to remember is that you get the final say in what you are, you’re opinion and feelings are the only ones that matter when it comes to things like this. Okay?”

Faizah takes in a deep breath and nods, “Okay.”

Dick smiles then and Faizah returns it with as neutral a expression as they seem to be able to muster. 

“Now hurry up Grayson, Pennyworth’s breakfast is going to be cold before we get to eat at this rate.”

It’s not until a few days later when Dick, for once, is at the breakfast table before Faizah that anything comes of the conversation. 

“Mornin’ Faizah”, Dick says between yawns. 

Faizah puffs up their chest and looks Dick in the eyes.

“My name’s Damian, I am a boy, and I would appreciate being treated as such.” 

Dick looks up from his coffee and grins. 

“Okay then Damian. Dames. Dami. Also how about we do something about that hair of yours”, Dick says, eyeing Damian’s botched haircut as the kid’s face flushes. 

Alfred raises an eyebrow at Damian and sighs. 

“Indeed. While I understand the desire to distance yourself from your more feminine image, taking a pair of safety scissors to your hair after an extremely exhausting patrol is not the answer”, Alfred drawls, heaving a sigh before he continues, “I guess I shall be making an appointment with Master Richard’s hairdresser for you, Master Damian.” 

“Much appreciated Pennyworth”, Damian replies, sliding into his seat opposite Dick. His lips turn up into an oh so familiar half smile, one that makes Dick chest ache at the memories.

But he has more important things to think about right now.

Dick hums. “Damian. Dames. Dami. I like it. Any reason in particular?”  

Damian pulls a face.

“Already coming up with inane nicknames I see, and anything’s better than naming yourself something so  _ phallic _ ”, Damian sneers, stabbing into one of his eggs.

Dick chuckles and leans across the table to ruffle Damian’s hair. Damian’s smile widens just a smidge. 

Dick knows they’re gonna be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> I probably spent more time trying to find a deadname for Damian than I did writing this fic. Faizah can mean either "victorious" or "winner" so i thought it was fitting. Also, I fucking love trans dick and trans damian, any dick or dami that i write are trans even if i don't explicitly mention it. 
> 
> Anyway comments are always appreciated and feel free to come say hi on my [tumblr](http://diesel-san.tumblr.com/).


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